Chapter 30: Finally, a Normal(ish) Day!
Hinata was the first to wake up. She opened her eyes to use her just-woke-up vision, which was completely blurred out. Even though she couldn't see, her senses told her that she was kissing someone. But who was it? Hinata had completely forgotten about the night before, and the fact that she had slept with Naruto. She blinked a few times, and somehow made out a face… a light tan face with 'whiskers'. She didn't want to believe it was Naruto, but who else could it be? The eyes of this 'mystery person' opened to reveal a pair of light ocean blue irises. Hinata still couldn't believe it was Naruto, so Naruto was the first to realize he was kissing his to-be girlfriend. He pushed away as fast as he could, hoping Hinata wouldn't realize it was him and fainting. It was too late. Hinata's vision had cleared, and she had realized the man was Naruto just as he pulled away. Hinata's eyes had gone from a troubled look to completely closed. Hinata had fainted. Naruto didn't even bother shaking her awake, since he knew Hinata would only faint again if she had seen his face. Naruto got out of his bed, washed, and got dressed in the upstairs bathroom. He was then making his way downstairs to the kitchen when he heard a hard, stiff knock at the door. He rushed his way down the stars and speed walked to the door. He opened it. Outside was Sakura and Yumi. Sakura wore a rage-filled face, while Yumi bore a look that warned Naruto that Sakura was about to yell her head off. Just as Sakura opened her mouth to yell, Yumi cupped her hand over Sakura's mouth.
"Please, Sakura. I already told you not to go crazy." She said.
Sakura pulled back Yumi's hand from her mouth. "Fine, Yumi. But they went MISSING for goodness sake!"
"True, but still, they both know how to defend themselves perfectly well."
"It's not that! It's… it's…" Sakura wanted to say that… lewd things could've gone on, but she knew that Naruto still acted too immature to be exposed to that of all things. "Ugh, never mind. BUT STILL, NARU- MPHH!"
"Sakura, I said…" Yumi said with clenched teeth. She then lightened up and said, "What Sakura meant was that anything could've happened to you two… that and Sakura doesn't really trust you two being alone together for some reason…"
Naruto knew perfectly well what Yumi meant, but he looked confused. Not because he was confused, but Naruto had become much better at hiding his true emotions as he had aged. Even Sakura, who had known Naruto for so long, would always be fooled. The only person he couldn't seem to hide his emotions around was Hinata. Maybe his affection towards her overpowered any other emotions, causing him to act only a select few ways around her. For example, he'd do anything for her, no matter what he had to risk. Hinata always (somehow) paid Naruto back, so he didn't have to worry about losing anything valuable to him because of his relationships.
"I... I guess that's understandable with you being you, Sakura." Naruto said.
"ME BEING ME?!" Sakura blared out with rage. Yumi didn't cover Sakura's mouth this time. She knew that there was no way to shut Sakura's big mouth up without harming her somehow, and that just might get her even more mad, if that was possible, which it probably was, but, obviously, no one wanted to test that. But the lest she could help Naruto with was asking her to calm down and slowly go through all the questions she had to ask through coolly. So, she did just that. "Sakura, please, we discussed this. Maybe if you calm down- "
"CALM DOWN?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN AFTER WHAT THIS IMBECELLE DID?!"
"B- But I didn't do anything!"
'OH, SURE YOU DIDN'T DO ANY- "
"SAKURA! SHUT UP! LET NARUTO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED!"
Sakura was surprised at Yumi's sudden outburst. She didn't know that Yumi could get so mad.
"I- I'm sorry, Naruto, Yumi. Proceed."
"Okay then… oh, hi, Hinata!" Yumi greeted. Hinata was just coming down the stairs after Sakura's loud yelling had woken her up. She walked to her place beside Naruto. "Ohaio, Sakura, Yumi!"
Sakura pushed Naruto to the side and stomped into the house.
"Manners, Sakura…" Yumi said.
"Sorry, but Hinata, did that imbecilic 'hero' do anything to you?"
Hinata blushed. "Wh-what d-do you m-mean?"
"You know, like…. Stuff."
"N-no…" Hinata was clearly lying, but Sakura's blind rage caused her to not realize so. Yumi could see the guilt ridden in Hinata's face, however. She decided that the better move may be to ask Naruto himself, for Hinata would have a 99% chance of fainting if she was exposed to the subject.
"Naruto, can you and I go upstairs and… discuss a few things?" Yumi asked. Naruto knew what she meant. However, he could trust Yumi to not tell Sakura about the cruel tricks that Kurama played. They went upstairs into the living room area.
Yumi seized Naruto's jacket by the collar. Her teeth were tightly clenched. "What did you do to Hinata? Tell me. NOW."
"I- I didn't do anything! –"
"Yes you did, Naruto. I saw it on Hinata's face. NOW TELL ME."
"That's not what I meant! I meant that it wasn't me! It was Kurama!"
"Kurama? Really? Is that the best you can do?"
"I'm not lying!"
"Oh, really? Then how exactly could Kurama do it?"
"He possessed me!"
"Psh, yeah right, Naruto. Now tell me what actually went on."
"It's the truth!"
"Well then, tell him to possess you now."
"Alright then, give me one second."
Naruto faded into his mental image in front of Kurama.
"KURAMA, YOU'D BETTER…"
"Alright, alright! I didn't know that a little trick could cause that much conflict."
"A LITTLE TRICK?!"
"Fine, fine! Sure, I- never mind."
Kurama possessed Naruto. Naruto's whiskers had gotten a bit thicker, and a black ring formed around Naruto's eyes.
"W-wow… you weren't lying…"
"You're? It's Kurama here, not Naruto."
"Oh… ok Kurama, what did you do to Hinata then?"
"I... Uhh… well I…" Kurama explained all that he had done to Hinata while Naruto was in his unconscious state… and what had happened afterwards.
"Why would you do that? You don't have any affection towards her, do you? Her being a human?" Yumi asked.
"No, no. Not Hinata, but another Bijuu…"
"There… there's multiple Bijuu?"
"Yes, there is… but I'll let Naruto explain it to you." Kurama stopped possessing Naruto. All signs of Kurama's presence dissipated, as Naruto returned to the controls of his own body.
"Hello again!"
" Naruto… you can do that?"
"Yep. I told you, I wasn't lying. Kurama can take control of me whenever he feels the need, but he never gets full control unless it's desperate."
"So what's this about multiple Bijuu?"
"Looks like I'll have to tell you the entire of the shinobi? Won't I?"
"If that's what's required, then I guess it's a yes."
Sakura and Hinata walked into the living room area to see Naruto and Yumi sitting across from each other, smiling.
"Why are you two so happy?" Sakura asked.
Naruto turned his head to the girls. "Looks like we'll have to give Yumi a history lesson. You two might have to sit down for this… and possibly help if you feel like it."
"Sure, why not?" Sakura said as the two sat down in one of the couches. "Where do we start?"
"The beginning of the shinobi era." Naruto said. For some reason, he was exited to teach of all things for once. Maybe storytelling could be one of his fortes.
"It all started a long, long time ago…" Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata explained the story of the shinobi era, the Kaguya, the Bijuu, Hagaromo and Hamura, and everything else that was tied in the elemental nations' history. (A/N: I didn't want to spoil anything… I mean, I just said the names!)
"That makes so much more sense now!" Yumi said.
"Yeah, doesn't it?" Sakura said with an intelligent smirk on her face.
"Well… now what?" Naruto asked.
"Hm… Should we go meet up with the other guys, wherever they are?" Yumi suggested.
"Sure, why not? But where could they be?" Naruto said.
"Maybe at the hotels?" Sakura said.
"What about the 'scanners'?" Yumi said.
"Well, we don't want to miss them, wherever they are." Naruto said, thinking about his cousin, Aelita.
"True… we'll have to split up then." Yumi said.
"Yumi, can I talk to you for a moment… downstairs?" Sakura asked.
"Umm… sure?"
Sakura and Yumi went downstairs and stood next to the staircase.
"What is wrong with you? Letting Naruto and Hinata pair up and go anywhere like that?" Sakura asked, thinking that Yumi was out of her mind.
"Nothing's wrong with me. And why not? Naruto didn't do anything, you saw that! You heard it from Hinata!"
"I know, I know! But still… It could be just that one time…"
"Sakura! Please! You have to learn how to trust Naruto! He knows better than that! He told me himself!"
"Words don't say everything."
"You have got to trust him! If you can trust Sasuke, you can trust Naruto!"
"I mean… it's just…"
"How about this; we'll hold a bet. If Naruto does anything to Hinata during the trip, I lose, and the two won't be permitted to be alone with each other anymore. If they don't do anything, they can stay together. How about that?"
"Okay… I guess."
Naruto and Hinata both overheard the conversation. "Do they really not trust us to the point where they have to bet on it?" Naruto said, hinted with a little bit of the sadness that he felt back in the day when everyone thought of him as a piece of garbage; who thought of him as the person who would end Konoha's reign. And yet, he didn't end the reign; he was in fact the savior of it.
"I guess so… Naruto, why do you seem so sad?"
"It… It's nothing that you should worry about, Hinata… I would rather not get you involved in my thoughts now, I mean it in the politest way possible. I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Naruto."
Sakura and Yumi came back upstairs. Naruto seemed to brighten up at their arrival, though he still felt the same inside. Hinata could feel his sadness.
"Alright then," Yumi said. "We'll split into pairs of two. Naruto, Hinata, you two go to the trees. Me and Sakura will go to the hotel rooms. Okay?"
"Okay." Both Naruto and Hinata said.
"But- "Sakura tried to complain about them going to the trees, but Yumi turned her head to Sakura and gave her a few eye daggers so that she would shut up.
"Well, we should get going then, shouldn't we?" Naruto said, rising from his seat.
"Yeah, we should." Yumi agreed, hoping that Sakura would fuss again so that she would have to give her another demonic look. Odd was enough, to be honest.
Hinata rose from her seat, and the group of four went out to the streets of Konoha and split up. Yumi and Sakura headed towards the Konoha apartments (some of the apartment buildings had now been transferred into hotel buildings), while Naruto and Hinata strolled through the roads and stores to the Konoha forest.
The two approached the tree scanners. They both sat down at a normal tree near the circle of scanners.
"How long is it gonna take them?" Naruto said after a few minutes. Though he had matured a bit, he was still impatient.
"Have some patience, Naruto. They could come here any minute." Hinata said in a calm, quiet, angelic voice.
Meanwhile, at the hotels, Sakura and Yumi weren't having much luck either. They entered Yumi and Aelita's room to find no one there. Odd and Ulrich's room had been empty as well.
"They've got to be at the towers," Yumi said. "We circled the entire village trying to find the hotels in the first place."
"We should go to the forest then." Sakura said. Sakura and Yumi exited the apartment/hotel building and were off to the Konoha forest. They spotted Naruto and Hinata sitting at the foot of a tree, waiting for the Lyoko team and Sasuke to emerge from the trees like dryads (A/N: Yes, I meant dryads, I looked it up, so it's right). They walked up to the tree and peed out from the side, looking down at Naruto and Hinata.
"Hello!" Yumi greeted.
Both Naruto and Hinata look up towards the canopy of the forest to see Sakura and Yumi's faces staring straight at them.
"Oh, hello." Naruto said. If Yumi and Sakura were there, and they weren't saying that the others were at the hotels, then the others must be on Lyoko still.
"Well, what were you two talking about?" Sakura asked.
Naruto looked down to the grassy floor of the forest. "It… It's some of my personal business. Nothing you need to really worry about…"
"Then why were you talking to Hinata about it?" Sakura asked, a bit mad that she wasn't allowed to know Naruto's business (when he was her teammate).
"Because she sort of already knew about it, unlike you, Sakura."
"How?" Sakura asked. How could Hinata know something about Naruto that she, Naruto's teammate, didn't know?
"Be-because…" Hinata trailed off. She didn't want Sakura knowing that she had 'stalked' Naruto back in the day.
"Sakura, if it's their business, it's their business. Deal with it." Yumi said. (A/N: ROASTEEEDDDD)
"Yeah, I guess that's true. I'll leave you two alone with your business then."
"Thanks, Sakura." Naruto said.
"Hey, guys!" Odd's cheesy voice said.
A/N:
I caught up with my pre done chapters... it'll take a while to get the next one up. But school out, so I have more time!
